John W. Pratt
Making Ends Meet, 1940
Boiled eggs for Mussolini;
el Duce is impatient for his breakfast,
fidgets his brown leather jack-boots under the table
as Mum, in the kitchen, waits for the water to reach the boil.
I watch his face, clean shaven around fleshy lips,
then look away before he catches me.
Hitler is peeing in the upstairs toilet.
I can hear the stream hit the water.
But no one else seems to notice.
This could be a respectful silence;
or is it that Mum and I are afraid
and Mussolini is lost in thought.
Hitler, is now taking our narrow staircase
step by deliberate step. Maybe he is hung over.
He pauses in the doorframe.
Grey worsted tunic and black belt
His jackboots, too, are shiny, expensive looking.
Adolf inspects my Mum as she brings in
the eggs, some butter (hey, where did she get that from?)
and this morning’s uncut Coburg, fresh from Devonshire’s.
I don’t think either of them care where it comes from.
They are paying, if they do pay, for food on the table.
She arranges the crockery, cuts three slices of bread.
I can tell Hitler is not sure of her.
I think he is sure of Mussolini, though:
Mussolini must go; he is self-indulgent, unreliable.
Just look at the bits of egg spilling from his mouth.
Anyway the chimney sweep will soon be here,
and they will be gone. At 12.30,
my Dad will be back from the Yard.
He always says the bed and breakfast game isn’t worth the candle.
You never know who is going to turn up in your house.
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